Dispelling the myth of "compassion fatigue."

Snow Emergency in Afghanistan

By Midwestern standards, this has been an unsettling warm winter. An unforgiving blast of cold is quickly followed by complete calm and dripping overhangs, triggering sentiments of spring. When it comes to wearing appropriate attire, people seem to be confused. Runners in shorts bounce past those in knee-length parkas and clunky winter boots. When it comes to work ethic, the giddy energy associated with the mock spring weather is more distracting than a blanket of snow, which is conducive for hunkering down to work or study.

This mild winter isolates the humanitarian threats and dangers of winter from those fortunate enough to have reliable indoor heating, warm clothing and full meals. But when the New York Times reported that 28 children had died from the cold in refugee camps in Afghanistan, since mid-January, the harsh reality of winter broke back into mainstream media and the consciousness of readers.

Despite the Afghan government’s early denial of winter-related deaths, aid groups such as USAID, Welthungerhilfe and Aschiana, among others, have been working to provide basic winter provisions and bear the weight of witnessing such immense need. Some 30,000 Afghans populating refugee camps in and around Kabul face risk of hypothermia in an uncharacteristically cold winter.

Digging further into international news sources, the snow emergency is wrecking havoc on marginalized populations in other regions as well. Earlier this month, Al-Jazeera, an Arab news network, reported on a similarly desperate situation in Eastern Europe.

In any humanitarian crisis, the first step is creating awareness. Something as simple as the shared life experience of a harsh winter may be enough to override the more daunting disconnects – what it must feel like to live in a refugee camp, or to lose a child to a preventable disease or indiscriminate warfare. In response to concerned reader response to the original New York Times article, the paper ran a follow-up article titled “How to Help Kabul’s Refugees.”

Readers want this type of solution-oriented journalism. They need to feel connected to “out-of-sight” humanitarian issues; but more importantly, they need to walk away with a new sense of purpose and the option to get involved. Unfortunately, it is this latter part that is neglected by the media. There is much to be said on what motivates people to get involved in a cause. Shared experiences, such as enduring a harsh winter, start by generating empathy.